


The Never Mechs

by CrypticAesthetic



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:36:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26143471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrypticAesthetic/pseuds/CrypticAesthetic
Summary: Jonny was Dr Carmilla's first attempt at Mechanisation. Nastya was her second successful one. These are the people in between.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	The Never Mechs

**Author's Note:**

> So I've always imagined there was about 2000 years between Jonny being Mechanised and Nastya joining, and from there was wondering why would there be such a gap? Then recently reading a lot of works where Jonny would try to protect the others from the Doc by using himself as a shield, and his abhorrence of there being any more at all.. I came up with this! 
> 
> Another note, I'm historically terrible at finishing works in progress because I get very distracted very easily, so each chapter is designed as a one shot.  
> Anyway, enjoy!

Jonny can't remember what the first one looked like or where they were from. He remembered their eyes though, filled with fear and resolve in equal measure. They were braver than he could ever be, lying on Dr Carmilla's cold metal table with their blood spurting onto the floor from a missing leg. It was a messy wound, severed midway through the thigh and a mangled mix of flesh, bone and blood. The only thing preventing them from bleeding to death right there and then were the infernal machines they were hooked up to, and Jonny knew from experience there was no pain relief to be found in a single one of them. And there they lay, in an unfamiliar environment with a mortal wound that should have killed them by now, being watched by a strange man filled with recklessly nervous energy who they were powerless to stop if he chose to toy with them. Despite it all able to push through the panic and pain to pay attention to Jonny with a lucidity he was never able to cling to whenever he found himself in that same place. 

He'd never done this before-well Carmilla had never brought someone back to recreate in her image in the two hundred years since she'd created him- But he'd never done something as rebellious as this, had never disobeyed her. He resisted of course, but nothing like this, and he was thrilled and petrified in equal measure. He'd never expressed to her how much he abhorred this timeless existence, how little he wanted someone else to suffer this exquisite torture, so Carmilla had no reservations in leaving him alone with his soon-to-be fellow Mechanism. She had gone to get some medical stuff or something; Jonny didn't know and had no desire to find out. Her absence gave him this opportunity to tell this.. prey what the immortality Carmilla dressed up as a gift actually contained. Oh, she made it sound so appealing, appearing like an angel to someone too young to die and offering them a saccharine smile promising salvation. Jonny knew better, now. It's easy to see between the cracks of her altruistic mask after spending two hundred years being on the receiving end of her experiments- the immortality she offered was not from a place of kindness. There was no risk of breaking her toys so badly they can no longer be played with when you make certain they can't break. It fills Jonny with dread that she wants even more that she can play with, and endeavours to make sure she doesn't get any regardless of what it costs him. 

Jonny has never been good with words when he didn't have the time to write down his thoughts coherently beforehand, stopping and starting and overwhelmed with emotion. With the time pressure of Carmilla coming back before he could finish, he was sure the word vomit he expelled onto her newest victim was only a barely coherent ramble of terror and blood. Even so, they understood what he was trying to say and it comforted Jonny that he was able to give them what Carmilla made sure he never had- the ability to make an informed choice. Their leg was still dripping black blood that had coalesced on the floor like an oil spill and they were shaking with pain, but their eyes had followed Jonny while he paced around the room tracking black and red blood when he struggled to verbalise their potential future. So when he saw their eyes harden with revolve and jaw tighten from gritted teeth before giving him a shallow nod, he knew they were giving him permission to save them. With a jerky nod of his own and an attempt at a smile he took a breath to brace himself and then taking a fistful of the wires buried in their flesh, he **yanked**. 

Moving as fast as he could meant that there was no time to be gentle, and he briefly regretted that their last moments would be filled with pain that he was responsible for, that there was very little comfort he could provide besides the promise that they would't be made into something like _him_ . But there wasn't time to think of all the ways he'd failed, no time for hesitation. Disconnecting them from the machines holding off the siren song of permanent death was the first step. He still had to make sure there was nothing left for Carmilla to immortalise. Jonny didn't exactly know the process behind the mechanisations but he was certain even she couldn't do anything with a pile of ash, and that meant fire. He knew the lab was home to various accelerants and that there wasn't a fire suppression system in place to extinguish the flames that would keep them safe from Carmilla's machinations. 

It didn't take long to find the accelerant that burnt hottest in the shortest amount of time and Jonny let out a huff of sardonic amusement- it would seem Carmilla's experiments weren't so pointless after all. It was a lurid green he would never be able to forget no matter the methods he tried. With a sorrowful look at the Never-Mech he covered their bleeding and broken body with the green liquid. It soaked into their skin and pooled beneath them on the table. Taking out his lighter he paused when he heard them speak for the first -and last- time. Their voice was weak and they were sputtering from the accelerant in their mouth, but it was determined and full of steel and he gave them his full attention, knowing it was important to bear witness to their last words. This at least was a comfort he could grant.

'Thank you'

Jonny paused, once again struck by their bravery in such a hopeless situation. Briefly he thought that they would have made a good Mechanism and was filled with horror and shame at this betrayal. Shaking his head slightly to bring him back to the present he tried to give them a reassuring smile. It was like trying to imitate a painting from a half-forgotten dream, and he was certain it was neither reassuring nor a smile, but they reciprocated with one of their own before their eyes slipped shut. 

And then they were on fire. 

* * *

When Carmilla returned it was to a table of ash and Jonny leaning against a wall smoking a cigarette. He was distantly aware that she'd come back, but he found his thoughts returning to the smile that the Never-Mech had given him, filled with a reassurance and gratitude that filled him with sweet sorrow. He didn't know why it was a simple smile of all things that he kept replaying over and over in his head, and found it so strange that the person he'd murdered thought it so important for him to find comfort. He hadn't bothered leaving and trying to hide- it was obvious what he'd done and running would only make her anger more terrible. She didn't say anything, but her wrathful eyes quietly promised the pound of flesh she'd been expecting to come back to would be taken from him. She did at least allow him to finish his cigarette before strapping him to the table for whatever punishment she deigned to give him. Because it would be a punishment. Pain and suffering for their own sake, and he knew he'd find with a vengeful glee if he were to look at her instead of her usual calculating curiosity. 

He'd expected it of course, there was no way he would be allowed to destroy one of her possessions and be given nothing but a slap on the wrist, though he'd certainly underestimated her creativity and her sadism. It took weeks for the shaking to stop and even longer before he could sleep instead of just shooting himself in the head to get snatches of blissful oblivion. He didn't regret it. As much as he had suffered for his disobedience and as much as he craved someone to help stave of the loneliness, that he could commiserate over their shared situation with, he would never allow himself to willingly condemn someone else to this. 

And if he found himself staring into a mirror and trying to mimic that reassuring smile he'd been gifted, well, there was no one around who cared to know but him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this turned out to be torrential vomit of Jonny angst/headcannon. Whoops.


End file.
